The Different Day
by Cammy P
Summary: One-shot. First attempt at writing a (serious) story. John notices Cameron behaving more 'different' than usual.


My very first and perhaps my last attempt at writing something. Who knows.  
I know the TTSCC fan-fiction world isn't very active but whatever.  
*Insert disclaimer mumbo jumbo here*

* * *

:: 0600PM

It's quiet in and around the Connor's residence. There's the occasional chirping of birds outside, but other than that there's no sound to be heard.  
John is sitting at the kitchen table, his mathematics book in front of him and a pen in his right hand.

Though John generally didn't like homework, he was convinced it's a good distraction from his daily troubles.  
But John never was very good with numbers and today was not an exception.

" _Ms. Brandt never said I wasn't allowed to use a calculator,_ " John thought to himself.  
And so he grabbed one from a nearby drawer and with a small smile he quickly calculated the answers he needed to finish his homework.

"John, you should do your homework without a calculator," a voice from behind John said, startling him and he dropped his calculator in the process.  
"Jesus Cameron, don't creep up on me like that," John said slightly irritated.

"I wasn't creeping up on you John," Cameron stated.  
"If you say so." John sighed. "And what do you mean I should do my homework without a calculator?" John asked.

"Ms. Brandt said you should do your homework without one John. You won't learn anything if you use a calculator," came Cameron's answer.

"Were you not paying attention during class today?"  
She slightly tilted her head, something John secretly liked about her. " _That's just too cute,_ " he thought to himself.

John shook his head. "Not really, I'm not that good at mathematics and the teacher isn't making the subject particularly interesting either."  
"Must've fallen asleep or something." He sniggered at the thought. "It's not the first time that would happen to me."

Meanwhile Cameron had taken a seat next to John and observed his homework. "I could help you with your homework if you'd like," she offered.  
A small smile crept up on John's face. "Sure," he shrugged and moved his homework so that Cameron could take a better look at it.

"Sums 9 and 12 are wrong, the correct answers are 9203 and 127.5" Cameron said after a moment.  
"Are you sure?" John asked confused. "I used the calculator, calculators don't make mistakes."  
"No they don't," Cameron agreed. "But you do."

"Well that sucks," He said sheepishly. "But the sums I did without a calculator are correct, so there's that."  
"Yes, those are correct. We should continue now John, Sarah's about to start making dinner. She'd like for you to be done with your homework by the time she's finished."

John nodded. "Alright let's get started then. Wouldn't want to miss out on mom's cooking abilities now do we?" He said grinning. A tiny grin appeared on Cameron's face. "Maybe we should order dinner instead." Cameron whispered slightly, still smiling. As if on queue Sarah walked in, looking suspiciously at both John and Cameron.

Seeing they were doing homework she decided not to comment on the fact they were sitting together closer to each other than usual.  
"We're ordering dinner tonight, I'm not in the mood to make dinner now," She announced.

"Why's that mom?" John asked a bit too excited.

"Because you and Derek always complain about how dinner doesn't taste nor look like food. I want to sit on my ass this evening and have someone make a pizza for me," Sarah explained, glaring at John for not minding at all they were ordering dinner tonight. Sarah knew she didn't exactly have Gordon Ramsay's cooking skills, but would never admit she was plain bad at preparing food.

"Tin miss, call Domino's and order a big Pizza Salami for the two of us," Sarah ordered Cameron, much to John's annoyance at both ordering Cameron to do something and apparently not including her for dinner.

As Sarah was already grumpy he decided not to argue about it and make things worse. A thought entered John's mind. "What about Derek?" he asked.  
"I haven't seen or heard from Derek for the last two days and I don't expect him to stop by now for dinner either," She argued.  
John shrugged. Cameron was satisfied with Derek's absence although she didn't show it.

"I'm going out, I need some fresh air now. I've been upstairs all day recounting our ammo and cleaning the rifles. I'll be back in 15 minutes, call me if the pizza arrives and I'm not home yet." With that she took her jacket and walked out the front door, shutting it with more force than necessary.

John and Cameron looked at each other. "What's up with her?" John wondered aloud.  
"I detected elevated stress levels in her voice, but I don't know why," Cameron said. John remained silent.  
" _Maybe it's best not to find out,_ " he thought.

John sighed. "Let's get this homework over with."

* * *

:: 0630PM

15 minutes later Sarah came back home and went straight for the kitchen to check up on John.  
"Are you finished with your homework? I don't see a pizza anywhere yet but it could be arriving at any moment now." Sarah noticed John and Cameron had cleared the table where they were doing his homework when she left the house.

"We just finished doing John's homework, and I ordered a Pizza Salami like you asked," Cameron said before John could answer.  
"Good. Speaking of pizza, I think I just heard a scooter. Must be our guy." Sarah checked the front window and indeed there was a small figure with a scooter grabbing the pizza box Cameron had ordered.

She walked to the front door, produced a 20$ bill from her pocket and handed over the money to the man.  
"Keep the change," Sarah grumbled as she snatched the pizza box from his hands and shut the door before he could respond.

"John turn on the TV, I want to watch this new series they're airing now. Cameron, grab dinner plates and a knife for the pizza," Sarah once more ordered as she cleared the coffee table and carelessly dropped the box containing the pizza on it.

"What's this new series called mom? I didn't know you watch TV at all," John asked curiously. "There are many things you don't know about me John," Sarah said with a small smirk. "To answer your question, I believe it's called The Expanse. It's about Earth and Mars being on the brink of war from what I've read on the internet."

John chuckled slightly. "Oh, the irony."

Cameron came back from the kitchen with a knife in one hand and Kleenex tissue paper in the other.  
"What's with the tissue paper Cameron?" John asked slightly confused.  
"To clean your hands after we're finished," Cameron stated matter-of-factually.  
" _Did she just roll her eyes?_ " He asked himself.

He was getting distracted by something else though as the smell of the pizza attacked his nostrils. "Oh man, this stuff smells great!"  
He groaned as Cameron started cutting the pizza into equally sized slices while Sarah impatiently waited for her to finish.

As they were eating their pizza and watching TV John couldn't help but steal glances at Cameron who was just sitting in her chair staring at nothing in particular.

"Cameron?" John spoke up to gain her attention. "Yes John?" She asked, her voice betraying her blank face for John as he noticed a trace of sadness in her voice.

"Would you like a piece of my pizza?" John asked hesitantly, expecting her answer to be no since she didn't need to eat unlike humans.  
"I don't need to eat anything John. You know this," Cameron answered, her brow furrowing slightly in confusion.

" _Called it._ "

"I know you don't _need_ to eat anything Cameron, I'm asking if you _want_ a piece of pizza. It just bothers me that I'm sitting here enjoying all this," - He gestured at the pizza for emphasis - "and you don't have anything," John explained while looking at her.

Sarah meanwhile was too focused on watching TV to notice the ongoing conversation.

Cameron thought for a moment. She didn't know why John would offer her his food but quickly came to the conclusion it's an act of friendliness.  
John noticed a smile appearing on her face as she came to said conclusion. Subconsciously he started smiling too.

"I'll take that as a yes then." He conceded and gave a slice of his pizza to Cameron. "Thank you John." was all she could say as she first looked at her pizza and then to John, her smile growing bigger.

"Um yeah, no problem." Blushing slightly he quickly refocused on eating his own slice, not noticing Cameron was still staring at him.

* * *

:: 0900PM

After John, Sarah and Cameron had finished eating dinner Cameron had started a 2-hour patrol while Sarah continued watching TV leaving John with the task of doing the dishes. After he was finished he went upstairs to his room to listen to some music and relax a bit.

As he lay on his bed he was thinking about Cameron. " _She smiled and accepted the slice of pizza. If only mom saw that,_ " he grinned as he imagined the whole situation.  
" _Mom would probably just shrug it off as another way to blend in and call me out for wasting food, but I know what I saw. That smile was genuine, no doubt. I knew she can feel. Not to an extent like humans can, but it's there._ "

A sound of a door closing downstairs pulled John away from his thoughts. " _Cameron's back from patrol,_ " he whispered to himself.

Cameron walked into the living room and saw Sarah still watching TV, watching the weather forecast. John however was nowhere to be seen.  
"The perimeter is secure," Cameron announced. Sarah didn't respond.

"Where's John?" She then asked. Sarah looked up from the TV and stared at Cameron, silently demanding an explanation.

"I need to check up on him. He's lacking proper sleep lately," Cameron said flatly. "John's always lacking proper sleep. We all do," she shot back.  
"He's upstairs in his bedroom, now get out of my sight," she growled and with that Cameron left the room.

" _Always trying to find a way to bother me,_ " Sarah thought to herself and continued watching TV.

Upstairs Cameron knocked on John's door. No answer. She knocked more loudly and this time she heard a voice coming from the bedroom.

"Who's there?" John called out, lowering the volume of his music. "It's me," Cameron responded.

She paused for a moment. "May I come in?" "Sure," John answered and Cameron walked into the bedroom.  
"I've finished my patrol. There are no threats," she said while looking at John. He nodded. "That's good."

There was an awkward silence which made John feel uncomfortable. John patted the edge of his bed and cleared his throat. "Please sit down Cameron. I can't think properly when you just stand in my room like that." He moved a bit so that he and Cameron had more space to lie together on his bed.

John stared at the ceiling while Cameron was looking at him. He then looked at her.  
"This is nice," he said quietly. Cameron tilted her head in confusion which in return made John smile. "I don't understand, John."

John's smile grew bigger. "What I mean is just sitting here, not having to worry about anything for the time being, all nice and quiet. And you're here too, you're good company in my opinion."

His face turned a bit red at his own words. Cameron looked straight into John's eyes. "You like my presence?" she asked with that sweet innocent tone that nearly made his heart melt. "Um, yeah. I guess I do. You're a good listener, and you're my friend, perhaps the only true friend I ever had."

Inside she felt something warm as she heard these words from him. She couldn't fathom what this feeling was or what it meant, but nevertheless she liked it.  
"Thank you," She spoke softly with such a low voice John could barely understand it. Cameron paused for a moment to think.

Did she have any friends back in the future? Besides Future John, that is. Most resistance fighters only accepted, _tolerated_ her presence and rank at the bunker she stayed at.  
Those who didn't either avoided her as much as possible or insulted her when they deemed fit. Cameron never liked any of the people she had met in the future except for Future John.

He explained things to her when she didn't understand something, helped her with tasks she could've handled on her own easily. Future John did things no one else did or would have done for her. But Future John isn't here now. She felt sad at the thought of it. Cameron liked Future John.

John saw Cameron's face turn into a frown as she recalled her memories from the future. "What's wrong?"

Cameron's face jerked slightly as she abandoned her thoughts and looked straight at John. "I was thinking about the future."

"Future John?"  
"Future John. He was my friend as well."

John couldn't imagine, didn't even _want_ to imagine what it would be like to abandon the world as he knew it and leave his only companion behind with it.

"Sorry for reminding you." Cameron stared at the end of the bed, then at John. "It's not your fault."

John smiled at her sadly and shook his head. "That's good."

Cameron heard Sarah turn off the TV and lights downstairs. "Sarah is coming upstairs John. I should leave, she won't be pleased if she sees us like this. Besides, you need to rest." John let out a long sigh in disappointment. "I guess I do."

Cameron got up from the bed and made her way to the door. She paused and looked back at John.

"John?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Thank you for the pizza," she said with a smile.

With that she left his room quickly and quiet enough for Sarah not to hear or see her. John chuckled to himself as he turned off the lights in his room.

" _Anytime Cam._ "

* * *

AN

So yeah there we have it.  
For whoever may have read this piece reviews are always welcome.


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